Five Takeaways from Nathaniel Hackett's Intro Presser as Broncos Head Coach
The Denver Broncos have a new head coach, and it’s a hire that should get most fans extremely excited for all of the right reasons.
Former Green Bay Packers offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett was officially introduced to local media and Broncos Country on Friday in a lengthy press conference featuring the bright and eccentric youngish coach. Hackett’s quirky and bubbly personality was on full display from start to finish, and he laid out some very clear and detailed messages, along with a few wonderful anecdotes for his new fan base.
So what did we learn from the 18th head coach in Broncos history? Here are five key takeaways.
Massive Amounts of Energy
Something we didn’t see from the likes of Vic Fangio and especially Pat Shurmur was a sense of excitement and energy at the podium. From the opening statement all the way through his final remark, Hackett had the audience captivated and on the edge of their seats with how energetic his body language and voice inflection changed rapidly from breath to breath.
“I think it’s big. It has to be that genuine juice—that genuine energy," Hackett said. "It has to be who you are. [It has to] Vibrate through the whole facility—everyone has to feel it. It’s not just one person, you don’t just save it up for your star player. It has to be with anybody and everybody. It’s something that is so important—this whole generation and world is changing. I call it that ‘YouTube’ generation world. Meetings are different from when I first started—trying to keep people’s attention and inspire them and get them excited. As a coach, you have to have that excitement and energy to find different ways to approach them and get them fired up to learn and get better each day.”
Gone are the doldrums of the monotonal pressers that had media members falling asleep at their notepads and tape recorders (which translated to the field, sadly). Hackett not only has an aura and massive amount of excitement and energy to work with, but he also reaches out to people personally by name.
This guy gets it.
Welcome Back to the West Coast
One of the reasons why Hackett was such a hot commodity in this year’s hiring cycle is the fact that he has been uniquely creative and highly successful in coordinating the Packers' offensive scheme. Hackett, son of highly-regarded former NFL coach Paul Hackett, grew up around Bill Walsh and the San Francisco 49ers back in the 1980s — the birthplace of the West Coast Offense.
The old-school WCO practically runs through Hackett’s veins, and it’s something Broncos fans are well associated with. During his presser, Hackett highlighted multiple times that he would like to operate the Broncos' running game with primarily outside-zone running plays, then bounce deep-shot plays off of play-action passing.
“Whatever we can do to take advantage of the players—what they do the best and being able to execute and win the game as a team," Hackett said. "I think the starting point is outside zone. Outside zone on offense is what you want to do, and you want to base that off of play-pass. You want to make the defense cover the entire field. You want to take shots down the field. Let’s all face it, that’s what the people in the stands love—they love those bombs down the field. I remember watching [former Broncos QB] John Elway throw the ball down the field to [former Broncos WR Ed] McCaffrey on all of those boot fakes. That was unbelievable. This is really where this system evolved from and was created. You’re always looking for that, and mixing in that ‘West Coast’ principle of the drop-back game."
It sounds a lot like the offense the Broncos ran back in the late 1990s with Elway (a player highly revered by Hackett himself) and back in 2015 under then-head coach Gary Kubiak.
Hackett's Knowledge not Limited to Football
Something not widely known about Hackett is the fact that he has a complete degree in neurobiology from UC Davis. He revealed an amazing anecdote about his time in the classroom which changed his fate and sent him to the NFL as a coach.
”I was majoring in Neurobiology, and I was in my final lab and we were doing all this crazy lab stuff—it was like a 10-hour lab," Hackett explained. "I was with one of my friends that was in that [class] and I was finishing up my major and at the same time, I was also volunteering—working at UC Davis with [former Defensive Coordinator] Mark Johnson assisting linebackers. When I was there, I just remember being in that lab and it was very quiet and very serious, and I might’ve tried to play a couple of practical jokes and I don’t think a lot of people liked the jokes—I thought they were really good jokes. Then you leave, you go outside, and you are out on the field and you’re with your brothers and you’re with your coach and you just realize—especially how we did it there at UC Davis. It was so family-oriented—it was very powerful. At that moment, I’m like ‘I really need to try this thing’. I was lucky because somebody from [UC] Davis and gone to Stanford—[Associate Director of Football Operations] Keith Buckley and he reached out to me and I was able to go there as a quality control guy.”
The fact that Hackett is not only a bright and intelligent football mind but also the smartest man in the room is fascinating. Oftentimes geniuses are identified by quirky natures and personalities driven to entertain. Hackett is clearly one of those types of people, and his resume proves his vast intelligence.
Family Comes First, Including Staff & Players
Part of the culture change needed in Dove Valley stems from the lack of camaraderie in the locker room. You could see it on the Broncos sidelines at times, where players would isolate themselves rather than participate in the celebration.
Some of the players didn’t mesh well with members of the previous coaching staff, and among the struggles and losing came multiple altercations between players and coaches. That should change dramatically with Hackett at the head of the operation.
"Since I’ve been here, I’ve already talked to a couple of guys," Hackett said. "For me, that’s one of the first things you have to do is you have to talk to the staff that’s here and you’ve got to reach out to all the football players. They’re the heartbeat of this thing, and I want to get to know them all. I want to understand who they are. This game is about relationships and when we’re done here and the next couple of days it’s about building those relationships.”
Hackett learned so much from his father, a man who helped guide and shape his son’s professional career, that he wants to incorporate multiple facets of that guidance to help every member of the organization succeed in every way possible.
Having a fatherly mentality, a deep commitment to building and keeping relationships strong, as well as a family-first mantra should help grow this team from the young seed that it currently resides.
F is for Fun
From having upbeat practices to pop culture references in his playbook, Hackett wants to have his players having fun out on the football field. Keeping the environment loose, helping his players understand and grow within the scheme, and seeing a return of music on the practice field should open up this organization once again.
“Let’s make no mistake—it’s only fun when you win football games," Hackett said. "We’ve got to win and that’s what we want to do. I’m so excited to work with this organization [and] with these players [while] meeting with each one of them [and] getting to know them. This is a young, hungry football team, and we’ve got to get over the hump. We’ve got to be excited about it and we all have to do this.”
Hackett is the epitome of fun. His bright and vibrant personality makes it easy to like him, and part of creating a fun culture in the workplace starts with having a boss that you like and relate to.
Having worked with a collection of all-time great players, as well as bottom-of-the-roster guys, has helped mold Hackett's personality to mesh with everybody on the roster. To him, having fun and tight-knit relationships with each and every member of the team is paramount for having success.
And of course, it’s a lot more fun when you’re winning football games as well.
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